


To Tame A Fennec Fox

by ADyingFlower



Series: Ardynoct Week [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: ...Kinda, Developing Friendships, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Manipulation, Family Bonding, Family Secrets, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Obsessive Behavior, Platonic Relationships, Self-Esteem Issues, Uncle-Nephew Relationship, Unhealthy Relationships, Yandere, implications of Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 20:05:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12261183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADyingFlower/pseuds/ADyingFlower
Summary: Day 3: Age difference“‘M not a fox, either.”“Sure you are,” The man drawled with a lazy tilt of his mouth, his dark eyes steady as a candle. “If the fox companion in the shadows is any guess.”Noctis looked over his shoulder pointedly, but there was no sign of such fox companion. Besides, that would be a bit creepy. He had purposely come into the abandoned corridor of the Citadel’s prison with the intent of becoming lost and forgotten. Or, until his dad noticed (or cared) that he was gone. Wasn’t like his personal guards were going to miss him, they were busy talking to Ms. Lucerna down in the kitchens because she was p-r-e-t-t-y.So he had time to kill, and a stranger left to waste away.





	To Tame A Fennec Fox

**Author's Note:**

> This is so weird?? And somehow multiple chapter?? Help??
> 
> Title is a reference to the little prince
> 
> This starts off pretty fluffy, but uh yeah, check the tags. I couldn't stop myself.

“Oh? Aren’t you _precious_?”

Noctis stops with a jerk of his limbs, backpedaling just enough to get in sight of the cell he has just passed. He knows, with a sense of a child that is told that sweets before dinner with soil their appetite, that he shouldn’t be down in these very depths were only the worst of criminals were tossed into the depths of the maw of iron bars and the pulse of his father’s magic and then forgotten about, their memory tarnished and removed from history.

Absently, he bit harder on his thumb.

“Stopping by to talk to little old me? How fascinating…though I’ll find you’re rather out of luck. My conversational skills have been a bit rusty since I’ve thrown in these silly old things, you see.” The man smirked at him from his sprawl, slowly climbing to his knees, the chains around both his wrists and ankles shuddering with every movement.

The teddy bear, loosely dangled by one cotton arm carelessly grabbed, wavered.

“Scared?” He teased, oily hair gathered in clumps around his wane face. “No need to be scared, little fox.”

For the first time since his encounter, Noctis slowly removed his thumb from his mouth and spoke. “‘M not scared.”

The man smirked. “Are you sure about that, little fox?” With a sure twist of his fingers, the cuffs around his wrists rattled loudly, making him flinch slightly at the unexpected noise.

But Noctis was nothing if not determined. Or stubborn, as his nursemaids used to not so fondly say behind closed hands. “‘M not a fox, either.”

“Sure you are,” The man drawled with a lazy tilt of his mouth, his dark eyes steady as a candle. “If the fox companion in the shadows is any guess.”

Noctis looked over his shoulder pointedly, but there was no sign of such fox companion. Besides, that would be a bit creepy. He had purposely come into the abandoned corridor of the Citadel’s prison with the intent of becoming lost and forgotten. Or, until his dad noticed (or cared) that he was gone. Wasn’t like his personal guards were going to miss him, they were busy talking to Ms. Lucerna down in the kitchens because she was p-r-e-t-t-y.

So he had time to kill, and a stranger left to waste away.

“Want some of my snack?” He offered, already pulling the backpack off his shoulder to dig through it. Silently, he offered the custard roll to the stranger through the bars, but only had a moment to relish in his surprised expression before it melted into a sneer.

“What am I, some kind of beggar getting scraps off royal children?” The way the man pronounced ‘royal’ was as if it was a stain on his prized possession.

Noctis tilted his head, only nudging the roll towards the stranger once more. The sneer lasted for a few more moments before eventually the man just sighed, shaking his chains with a pointed rattle. “Can’t move, your _highness_.”

He rocked back on his heels, withdrawing the roll with a bite of his lip. That…was a problem. There was a door to the cell, but no padlock in sight and when he tried to open the handle it refused to budge.

“Going to have to try a little harder than that, little fox.”

Stubborn. He’s stubborn. This he knows. The front of the door was decorated with his family’s crest, but when he narrowed his eyes in concentration he could taste the familiar cocoa and tea leaves in the back of his mouth centered around the crest.

Stuffing the teddy bear in his backpack, he swung it over his shoulder in one smooth motion and placed his now free hand over the crest, electricity darting over his skin like the starbursts exploding in his mouth. “ _Open_.”

With a creak, the door unlocked and gently, ever so gently, swung open.

He took one step, two steps, three, before he was standing in front of the strange man, custard roll still in hand and held like a peace offering in front of him. “I’m Noctis, but I guess you already know that.”

The stranger stared with an indescribable expression, before snatching the roll out of his hand. “If you must insist. Children are insufferable to deal with, I swear.”

Still didn’t stop him from diving into the roll with the grace of a man who hasn’t eaten in weeks, which may very well be true. This was a cell for the forgotten, and there was more than one way to be forgotten.

“This is where you say your name too,” Noctis pointed out stubbornly, already flopping on the filthy floor next to the prisoner. He rumbled through the bag, pulling out a juice box and offering it to him eagerly, which was quickly stolen out of his hand as the much older man angrily chugged the juice, not even using the straw that came with the box.

“I would rather not, if it’s all the same to you.” The man flexed his fingers, looking at him with acute interest. “Would you mind doing your little magic trick from earlier again?”

Noctis peered at him for a moment, but shook his head quickly. “You’ll just try and hurt me, won’t you.”

The man smirked. “A smart one, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.” Swiftly, he delved a hand back into his bag and pulled out his coloring book, opening to his newest drawing he was working on, a car half colored in already.

Settling on his stomach next to the man, he unhooked the crayons from the back of the coloring book and began to continue to fill it in.

“What…in Eos’ name are you doing?” The man asked sharply, scattering the remains of the flaky pastry off his hands like dust off the palm of an astral.

“Coloring.” He stated blankly, because in essence that’s what he was doing. He was coloring.

“I know, but why _here_?” It almost sounded like he was…frustrated.

Privately, he couldn’t help feel a bit satisfied with the reaction. Those kind of reactions; frustration, annoyance, _anger_ , they all proved something.

What that something was, he’s not sure.

“Because I want to.” Noctis stated simply, like the brat he was. The man growled, but was unable to do anything, short as the chains were. Didn’t mean the man didn’t do anything possible to get him to leave.

Including shaking the chains nonstop for a half hour, or so his dad’s watch said.

“For the love of Etro, please stop!” Noctis whined after his ear drums felt close to bleeding with the constant maddening clicking.

The man smirked at him, looking like the cat who got the canary. “Then leave.”

Noctis crossed his arms. “No.”

The two of them stared at each other like two pissed off kitties, all scowls and fur bristling. But Noctis was stubborn, he was _stubborn_ , and no one would take that away from him.

_‘A trait like that isn’t good in a future ruler’_

And for once, it payed off.

“If I tell you my name, will you leave?” The man finally offered.

Noctis watched him for a moment, just to think on it. But he had to head back soon anyhow, for his lessons with his tutor who liked to yell at him until he cried when he got things wrong.

He nodded.

The man seemed to sigh almost, running a hand through his hair. Despite his status as ‘forgotten’, he still seemed to carry weight on him and wasn’t a skeleton. Still; next time he came (tommorow. tommorow.) he would bring more snacks. Maybe pack an entire lunch.

“Ardyn,” The man finally admitted, the words dragged out of him with violent hooks and years of regret all stacked like pancakes, threatening to spill over, syrup and all. “Ardyn Lucis Caelum.”

And Noctis?

He just breathed in the faint smell of tea leaves and rich chocolate, stared the prisoner who was meant to be forgotten but yet shared the same last name as him, and _smiled_.

“Does that mean I get to call you uncle?”

“ _No_.”

 


End file.
